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LOS ANGELES — Days after the NFL said it was ready to welcome its first openly gay player, a
report indicates that an intolerant locker room culture harassed a player to the brink of
suicide.

Three Miami Dolphins players used “racial slurs and other racially derogatory language” as well
as “homophobic name-calling and improper physical touching” to bully teammate Jonathan Martin as
well as another player and an assistant trainer, both unnamed, according to independent
investigator Ted Wells, who filed his report to the league yesterday.

The revelations come after prospect Michael Sam, a 2013 All-America linebacker from Missouri,
announced on Sunday that he is gay.

Wells’ report provides an unflattering snapshot of a locker-room culture where off-color remarks
about sexual orientation and race are commonplace. Even so, the harassment Martin and the others
received startled even veteran NFL players.

“I’ve been in some bad locker rooms, but they weren’t dysfunctional in that they were demeaning
to people,” said former NFL lineman Ed Cunningham, who played for Arizona and Seattle in the 1990s.
“We had fights, but they were based on something that was done dirty on the playing field, or
because someone thought they were going to get cut and were jealous. … To hear about that type of
(Dolphins) locker room was shocking.”

It is unclear what the NFL will do next, but sensitivity training is likely to be a point of
emphasis at the league’s rookie symposium, which is mandatory for every incoming draft class and
covers an array of topical issues and concerns.

The league has a history with Roger Goodell as commissioner of moving to stamp out bad behavior.
The New England Patriots were fined $750,000 and lost a first-round draft choice when caught
videotaping an opposing team’s signals. And the New Orleans Saints were hit with several
suspensions — losing coach Sean Payton for an entire season — when an alleged pay-to-injure bonus
system was revealed.

Earlier this week, the league reacted with plaudits to the news about Sam. “We admire Michael
Sam’s honesty and courage,” the NFL said in a statement. “Michael is a football player. Any player
with ability and determination can succeed in the NFL. We look forward to welcoming and supporting
Michael Sam in 2014.”

Details in Wells’ 144-page report about Martin’s experience in his two seasons as an NFL player
show a different side. The report says Martin was so distraught by the treatment of his Dolphins
teammates — specifically fellow offensive linemen Richie Incognito, John Jerry and Mike Pouncey —
that he twice contemplated suicide in 2013. He finally quit the team last fall, in the middle of
the season.

One labor expert said the NFL is facing an image crisis over its handling of concussions and
health issues of retired players, the controversy surrounding the Redskins nickname, and the coarse
culture of locker rooms.

“All of these things suggest that the game is insufficiently sensitive to both civility, good
manners and fair treatment,” said Stanford law professor William B. Gould, former chairman of the
National Labor Relations Board. “This is something that’s going to become increasingly important.”&
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Martin hopes to return to the NFL next season, said his agent, Kenny Zuckerman, who added that
Martin “is glad that this is behind him.”

“It is disappointing that Mr. Wells would have gotten it so wrong, but not surprising,” Schamel
said in a written statement. “The truth, as reported by the Dolphins players and as shown by the
evidence, is that Jonathan Martin was never bullied by Richie Incognito or any member of the
Dolphins offensive line. We are analyzing the entire report and will release a thorough analysis as
soon as it is ready.”